(Federal) sharing is caring

SHARING IS CARING: MT readers have now had the weekend to parse the fiscal 2018 omnibus. But did you catch this line tucked under the section for TIGER grants? — “… the secretary shall not use the federal share as a selection criteria in awarding projects.” Readers may recall that DOT faced criticism last year for saying that an INFRA application suggesting a smaller federal share would be “more competitive” than an application suggesting a larger federal share. On a conference call Friday with reporters, DOT Deputy Secretary Jeffrey Rosen said selection criteria “with regard to federal share has been one that, for better or worse, has been a bit of a flashpoint in all directions.” But he added that DOT “put less emphasis” on the federal versus non-federal share when it came to TIGER applications than it did for INFRA applications. “It’s not a big factor in that TIGER is geared to a different tier of project sizes, and the key thing in that program is multimodal, and there are caps on the states,” Rosen said. Still, Rosen argued that the omnibus language “doesn’t fundamentally affect our ability to try to revise the solicitation criteria in positive ways.” The department, for instance, wants to stress “project delivery acceleration,” he said.

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WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW? Meanwhile, the White House took the omnibus ball and ran with it Friday, billing the legislation President Donald Trump (eventually) signed as a “down payment on his infrastructure initiative.” The press office ticked off a list of issue areas that saw funding bumps before noting: “A significant share of this funding increase is directed to competitive, merit-based infrastructure grant programs with no special advantage to certain projects” (cough, Gateway). House Republican leadership had been playing up the deal’s $21.2 billion in infrastructure funding enabled by the budget deal as a “key priority” of the administration before it was signed into law. Still, infrastructure didn’t get a shoutout from Trump when he signed the bill Friday. “I was thinking about doing the veto,” he said. “But because of the incredible gains that we've been able to make for the military, that overrode any of our thinking.”

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WHERE THERE'S A GATE, THERE'S A WAY: Pro-Gateway Republicans from New York and New Jersey are making their peace with the compromise on the massive bridge-and-tunnel project inside the omnibus, but they’ve got questions. “I’m going to be requesting additional information as far as the plans and timeline, how the money’s going to get spent,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) told POLITICO. As we’ve reported for Pros, DOT and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have taken their own victory laps on the final Gateway deal in recent days.

A 'demonstrably' high priority: Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) said he’s pleased that Gateway got something — even if it’s not as much as some members had hoped for, and at least some of it could end up going to other project applicants. “I believe that the Gateway project is the most significant public works project in the nation,” Lance said. “Any competition would result, in my judgment, in funding for Gateway.” When reminded that DOT has downgraded the project in its internal ratings, Lance said, “It’s a very high priority, and I think that is demonstrably true.” He said he's counting on future appropriations cycles to keep filling in the gaps until the project is completed.

The play-by-play: The Washington Post has a tick-tock of the Gateway drama that unfolded over the last few weeks. As Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) recounted to the Post, the president had a simple message for him after he pitched him on Gateway at a St. Patrick's Day luncheon in the Capitol: "Federal money would flow to the $30 billion Gateway project, but Trump had to be in control." Read it here.

GROUP LODGES COMPLAINT AGAINST RUSSIAN AIRLINE: Muslim Advocates filed a complaint Friday with DOT on behalf of five U.S. citizens against Russian airline Aeroflot, alleging they received “grossly discriminatory treatment” at the hands of the carrier’s employees in January 2018 as they were trying to make a connecting flight to New York from Moscow, after landing from New Delhi. The complaint describes a multi-day ordeal where the passengers, who they say were perceived to be of South Asian descent, ended up flying back to India after being denied accommodations or transit visas that would have allowed them to stay in Russia for longer than a day. “The treatment endured by the passengers and the other South Asian travelers was grossly discriminatory and violates the fundamental protections that federal law requires should be afforded to all travelers,” the group wrote. Read the complaint here.

SLICE OF PI: General Motors has hired Donn Salvosa of the DS2 Group to lobby on autonomous and electric vehicles. GM “also brought on Hance Scarborough in January to lobby on autonomous vehicles, among other issues, and several of the half-dozen other lobbying shops the automaker has on retainer work on the issue, too,” our friends at POLITICO Influence report. And Sonoran Policy Group registered to lobby for Texans Against High-Speed Rail on “issues related to eminent domain for private use and the opposition of any tax-subsidized railway.”

MT MAILBAG: Ten senators wrote to autonomous vehicle manufacturers, including Uber, last week seeking information about how they may use forced arbitration clauses, which preclude consumers from suing for damages, in their terms of service with users. “Since many ridesharing companies are poised to be AV manufacturers and many traditional automakers are planning to launch ridesharing apps, this creates a direct contractual relationship between the consumer and the autonomous vehicle manufacturer that didn’t heretofore exist,” they wrote. “Furthermore, this creates a significant risk to the public because the contract between the rideshare operator and the consumer is usually presented as a click-through agreement when downloading a rideshare app,” and they often include such a clause.

ARRIVALS LEVEL: The American Association of Port Authorities elected Port of Cleveland leader William D. Friedman to be the group’s next board chairman.

MT-A CULPA: The March 23 edition of Morning Transportation misstated the duration of the ELD exemption in the omnibus spending bill for truckers carrying livestock and insects. The exemption extends through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.

— “Waymo’s CEO on fatal autonomous Uber crash: Our car would have been able to handle it." The Washington Post.

THE COUNTDOWN: DOT appropriations run out in 188 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 188 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 920 days.

** A message from the New York Building Congress: The time has come to enact a comprehensive national infrastructure plan. The Building Congress believes that any path forward on this issue must increase direct federal funding in a broad range of infrastructure sectors over the next 10 years in order to achieve a $1 trillion federal investment. It is vital to fix chronic challenges and address recurrent shortages in key federal infrastructure accounts such as the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). In order to do this, Congress must seriously consider a long-needed increase in the federal gas tax to provide the HTF with a source of significant growth. With any national infrastructure program, reforms should be put in place to increase accountability and ensure that each dollar produces the greatest possible social, environmental, and economic return on investment. Learn how to invest in the future of our country at www.buildingcongress.com **

About The Author : Lauren Gardner

Lauren Gardner is a reporter for POLITICO Pro Canada. Before joining POLITICO, she covered energy and environment policy at CQ Roll Call, writing about everything from the EPA's climate change rules to the oil and gas exports debate in Congress. Gardner started her career in Washington as an IRS reporter for BNA.

Gardner, a Philadelphia native, graduated from American University with degrees in journalism and international studies. Outside of the Capitol, you can find her running the trails of Northern Virginia and D.C. or rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles. She lives with her husband and their beagle mix Barkley in Alexandria.